I have a love-hate relationship with iTunes, and at the moment, having got my MacBook Air, iPhone, and iPad combo just the way I like it, I am all hot for iTunes again.

But there’s a problem. Back when I was not talking to iTunes and cursing how bloated it was, I told Google Chrome not to open the iTunes desktop app whenever I was visiting an iTunes link online. You know, this one….

I hated visiting the iTunes website to check something out, and suddenly the desktop app would pop up on the screen, telling me I had to download an update or synchronize my iPhone. But now that I am in love with iTunes again, how do I get Chrome to automatically open up the iTunes desktop app, whenever I click the blue “View In iTunes” button on an Apple page?

Chrome has quite a few quirks, so it took me a while to figure out how to do this one. I figured it out in the end, so obviously the first thing I want to do is share my knowledge with you!

This solution works with both Windows and Mac, but obviously the location of the relevant file will be different on each operating system. Apart from that, it is pretty much an identical process.

Hunt Down The File!

Close your Chrome browser (very important).

OK, this is where it slightly deviates between operating systems. On a Mac, navigate to:

/Users/[USER NAME]/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/

And on a Windows computer, go to:

C:\Users\[USER NAME]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\

On a Windows computer, you will have to go into the Explorer settings and change the setting to “show all files” (the ones that are normally invisible).

Once you have got to the file location, look for a file called “Local State“. It will not have any file extension, so open the file up using a text editor.

Scroll down the file until you see a section called “Protocol Handler” (it’s about halfway through the file). Then look for either “itms” or either “itmss”. After that, it will either say “true” or “false”.

Now delete that entire line. Zap it, nuke it, show it who’s boss.

This next part is important. Open up Chrome but don’t close the Local State file. Initially, I saved it and closed it, but when I opened Chrome again, it reversed my changes in the Local State file. So you MUST keep the Local State file open for the moment.

Go to an iTunes page (here’s the one for Chrome if you want to just use that one) and click the blue “View In iTunes” button. Immediately a box should pop up asking you how you would like Chrome to handle these links.

You’ll see that it wants to open iTunes.exe (the desktop app) for all iTunes weblinks (which is good) and you should also tick the box which tells the browser to remember your choice. Then click “Launch Application“, and close the Local State file.

And up iTunes pops with your page!

And before all you diehard Firefoxers jump in here, yes it is MUCH easier on Firefox. You simply have to go to the browser Options, then the Applications tab, then type in iTunes. Then look down the menu and choose your program.

If it is so childishly easy in Firefox, it makes you wonder why Chrome makes it so damn hard! But there you go, now you know how to conquer it in Chrome.

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Msjunk

March 21, 2017 at 2:14 pm

I had the same problem on Mac OS X Sierra 10.12.3 using Chrome 57.0.2987.110 (64-bit). This web page is one of a few better with different methods of addressing the issue. Ultimately having exhausted all of these methods without success I resorted to copying and overwriting my Google Chrome directory and sub-directories on my Macintosh HD. I did this copying from a Time Machine backup stored on an external hard drive. All of which proved to me that there is another file or setting not referenced here or documented anywhere else for that matter, that ultimately controls the behavior once the "Remember my choice for App Store.app links" option is chosen from the "Open App Store.app?" pop-up. Fortunately I was able to do this because I had a Time Machine backup with a recent Chrome installation configured with the desired settings prior to the "View in Mac App Store" button being disabled. Clearly the functionality to configure this within Chrome is essential and simple, although is lacking, not there or not working and needs to be fixed. So either don't click "Remember" or choose each time because once you make that choice it is not the easy change back it should be.

If this didn't work, or you didn't find "itms" or "itmss", you can do the following:

1- Go the chrome app page in the AppStore https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/chrome/id535886823?mt=8&uo=8&at=10l7an
2- Type in the address bar javascript:its.detect.itunesDetected = function(){return true;}
3- Now when you click "View in iTunes" an "External Protocol Request" will popup to ask for permission, make sure you select the check-box to remember your choice and click "Launch Application".

Do you have a grey box above the white app box on the page with "View in iTunes"? I got one when I was viewing the page, and the bottom is "Have iTunes already? Click Here" and forces a dialog box to pop up.

So the only way to change this is to hunt down some file and delete it? No option in Chrome settings? Oh wait, this article was written when... wait, no date on the article. So it could have been written yesterday or 5 years ago, who knows whether it's still relevant anymore.

Mark O'Neill is a freelance journalist and bibliophile, who has been getting stuff published since 1989. For 6 years, he was the Managing Editor of MakeUseOf. Now he writes, drinks too much tea, arm-wrestles with his dog, and writes some more. You can find him on Twitter and Facebook.